Depending on which Texas county you reside in, if you want to properly protest your property taxes, you must go before the appraisal review board (ARB). Also known as a formal appeal, ARB hearings are the second step in the ladder of property tax protests. In many high-dollar counties, such as Travis and the Austin area, formal appeals have overwhelmingly become the deciding factor in both residential and commercial protests.
But what are the basics of an ARB hearing? In this article, we will discuss how to prepare, what to expect, and how you will win. All property tax appeals can be a complicated journey, but thousands of Texans take on their local country appraisal district (CAD) every year at the ARB. You will need to be ready, but like any battle, preparation is key.
Why the ARB?
Before you even qualify for an ARB hearing, you must file an informal appeal. This is a protest directly to your CAD. While still an introductory phase, you will want to have as much evidence as possible. Possessing proof to back up your claims is not just good to have but is a necessity. Hopefully, your evidence is compelling enough that the appraiser will offer you a settlement with a reduction right there. In 2023, roughly 1.7 million property tax appeals were resolved at the formal level.
Your informal appeal either ends with a refusal to settle or a settlement in your favor. If there is no offer to settle, then you can push for a hearing in front of the ARB. If you win a settlement, but it seems insufficient, then you can also push to the formal level in an attempt to get a bigger reduction. This scenario is particularly common with commercial property or in high-value counties. Some CADs are quite happy to give good settlements, while others refuse with even a mountain of evidence against them. Either way, it would seem that the ARB awaits.
Evidence
In a previous article, we discussed what general evidence you need to bring to any property tax appeal. You will want to have documents that echo what you claim, photographs to back up those documents, invoices and estimates to help confirm the value of your property, and the basic information and dimensions for your home or business. You will also want to have a copy of any exemptions you possess.
You will also decide if you want to go for excessive valuation or unequal appraisal as your main argument, though you can do both. Excessive valuation requires the evidence we just discussed, while unequal appraisal requires more legwork. To prove that your home is overvalued compared to similar properties, you will need to bring sales records, photos and stats for other properties, and other hard evidence that shows you are being treated unfairly by your CAD. Remember that there are three board members, so you will want to bring three copies of every piece of evidence.
The ARB
The ARB is a three-person board that is dedicated to being an impartial arbiter between you and the CAD. They all have training in how to judge the value of property, hopefully making them the perfect judges for your case. Depending on the size of your county, there may be many trios operating at the same time. Once the season for appeals begins, the ARB will hear cases every day until the docket is exhausted. It is these three people that will decide the fate of your appeal, so do your best to be respectful and courteous. It should be noted that most ARB members own property in the same community that you do, ensuring that they have a strong interest in seeing taxes assessed and collected fairly in your community.
The CAD Appraiser
This will be your opponent for the hearing. While you are trying to show that you are being unfairly taxed, it is their job to show that they got the original assessment correct. They will provide you with copies of their evidence before the hearing, and you must likewise do the same. This is something akin to discovery in a criminal or civil trial, though the proceedings are obviously not under oath. The CAD appraiser is both skilled in their field and will know the ARB better than you do. This is why your evidence must be on point.
Limited Time
Depending on your county, the ARB may be expected to handle thousands of cases in their limited run. This means that there is usually a hard cap on how long a hearing can last. This is typically 15 minutes at most. This time is shared by you and the CAD representative, so there is no time to waste. In order to maximize your chance of winning, you must use every second to present your case. ARB hearings are conducted in an informal setting, so time should not be spent on formalities or ceremonial procedures.
Burden of Proof
If you look at an ARB in the terms of a criminal trial, you are the defense, while the CAD is the prosecutor. While intimidating at first, it also means that there are a few chips stacked in your favor. The biggest is that it is on the CAD to prove that your property is worth what they claim. This means that they must meet a higher threshold than you do when it comes to deciding the case. This preponderance of evidence is decided by the quality of evidence, not the quantity of it. You need strong supporting documents and evidence, not a library or reems of material, just what is required to make your point.
Putting on Your Case
After formalities are discussed and introductions are made, it will be your time to shine. You will be given the opening statement and presentation, allowing you to set the tone. With the clock ticking in the background, you must get to the point as quickly as possible. This is not a diatribe against the county or a way to get any political grievances out. You must get your key pieces of evidence in, with little room for anything else. Remember, you need to surpass a lower threshold than the CAD. If your evidence has an edge on theirs, then the ARB must side with you.
In addition to providing written and photographic evidence, you can also present witnesses or affidavits that help with your case. Again, all of this should be relevant. Remember, simply saying that your property is being valued too much is not evidence, nor saying the value is unfair. You must have hard facts to back up any claim you make. This is why it is imperative that you have all of your evidence organized in a way that is easy to share and keep track of.
Remember to keep things on-topic and professional. Emotion has no place in the hearing, and at best will only waste precious time. At worst, an outburst or tangent could tank your case. Present your facts in a succinct manner, deliver them in a calm way, and leave no doubt that you are on the correct side of the argument. You spent a lot of time gathering the evidence, let that do most of the talking for you.
Rebuttal and Closing Statement
The CAD representative will then go and present their own evidence. Listen politely, while also taking in everything they show or say. Once they are done giving their information, you will have a chance to rebut the evidence or arguments they made. Again, make sure that this is dispassionate and to the point. You are not trying to get some kind of “gotcha!” statement in, just give the facts. Correct any errors that the CAD representative made by using your facts and evidence.
You may be given a chance to make a quick closing argument. Again, this is not a place to drop a long monologue. All you do is hit the main points that you came in with, as briefly as you can. You have already established the facts, simply point them out again and rest your case. The CAD can make a similar statement of their own or simply let the hearing end. And with that, your job is done. All you need to do is wait.
ARB Decision
After your hearing is over, the ARB will rule on the value of your property. If they side with you, they will send you the final notice via certified mail. Hopefully when all of the evidence is tabulated, you will be granted a reduction. If you fail to win the case, or you win but are unsatisfied with the result offered, then you will have the option of a judicial appeal.
Get Help
If all of this sounds too complicated or will take too much effort to do on your own, then you can get a firm to represent you instead. We at O’Connor are one of the largest specialists in the United States that focuses only on property tax issues. For 50 years, we have outwitted CADs of all sizes in ARB hearings. We also have access to a proprietary database that can compare sales records in a given area, making us one of the top firms when it comes to disputing unequal appraisal.
While you can do your own property tax appeal, we are here to help. If you sign up with O’Connor, your taxes will be protested every year for you. You will not have to worry about remembering deadlines or making ARB hearings, as we will do all of that for you. You will only pay if we are able to lower your taxes, and only with a portion of what you get back. You will never be handed an upfront cost or a hidden fee. Let us be your watchdog against aggressive taxation by representing you at the ARB and beyond.
